Neck and Head Stability Pillow

ABSTRACT

A neck and head stability pillow comprises flat bottom half cylinder fixed to a flat bottom half toroid and both components compose a single pillow. The flat bottom half cylinder fits directly below the neck providing an adequate support and stability to the cervical area. The flat bottom half toroid where the head rests provides the necessary flexibility. The inner elliptic space where the user&#39;s occiput rests is created between the flat bottom half toroid arms fixed to the flat bottom half cylinder. The inner diameter between the flat bottom half cylinder and the semi circular flat bottom half toroid elevates the user&#39;s occiput rests above the mattress. This graduation assures that the head and neck remain as aligned as possible in its top to bottom axis. The flat bottom surface stabilizes the half toroid fixed to the half cylinder providing full protection and stability for the user&#39;s cervical area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Chronic neck pains and headaches associated with stress, tension, improper posture during rest, sleep or after medical treatments are reaching epidemic proportions. Office workers and people who perform mechanical or repetitive jobs without ergonomic support often times have injury in their cervical areas. These problems are carried to home and affect the rest periods. The neck and head stability pillow addresses these problems providing stability and protection during the rest period. According to Persson, (2006). “A specially selected and individually tested pillow with good shape, comfort and support to the neck lordosis can reduce neck pain and headache and give a better sleep quality.”

Most people use pillows to get cushioning support for their head and neck in order to boost their comfort during the rest period. Although most pillows provide some cushioning support for the user's head they are not a perfect solutions. Some of those pillows take in consideration the human neck natural curvature to provide support and comfort in the neck area but the great majority of these pillows do not take into account the head stability. Vise versa some of the pillows that have as an objective to provide head control fail to protect the neck.

To corroborate these statements an extensive survey of cervical pillows has been conducted including an examination of over one hundred diverse pillow models. It was observed that approximately 90% of the pillow models did not provide head stability and were limited only to sustain the natural curvature of the neck cervical area. The rest of the pillows that provide some control and flexibility for the head area fail to provide proper support for the cervical area.

Certain inventions have introduced cervical pillows that can relatively meet some head and neck support criteria, for example model patents issued: No. 20090133193, U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,049 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,832. For instance, the Buckwheat hull pillow (No. 20090133193) which claims to have cervical support only provides support for the head and not for the neck. The Cervical pillow with variable thickness head and neck portions (U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,832) has the peculiarity that stabilizes the head in only one manner, lateral left to right movements. However, it does not provide stability for up and down head movements and depends upon the quality of the mattress to avoid the head sinking into it causing more strain in the cervical area.

Some of these pillows are specially designed to provide support for the user's cervical or neck region but do not provide control and stability for the head. Thus, a pillow that provided simultaneously comfort, flexibility, control and full stability for the head and neck area was not identified in the survey of over one hundred pillows. The scope of this invention is to provide an effective solution to these clear limitations in prior art head and neck pillows.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention: This invention pertains to cervical pillows or head and neck support devices and more particularly to head and neck support devices.

The present invention is a neck and head stability pillow comprising a flat bottom half cylinder for neck control and stability fixed to a flat bottom half toroid component for the head comfort and stability. A special feature of this configuration is that a flat bottom half toroid with an inner elliptic curve is fixed to a flat bottom half cylinder and both comprise a single unit. The head rests in the inner diameter of the half toroid. The weight of the head rests on the inner sidewalls of the toroid. The flat bottom half cylinder is the component that provides adequate support to the cervical neck area.

This pillow can be used as much as people who sleep on their backs or to sleep on their sides. The difference between this invention and prior art is founded on the combination of the two geometric forms: the flat half bottom cylinder and the flat half bottom toroid, permanently fixed together provide the optimal critical elements of flexibility and stability for the head and neck.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the neck and head stability pillow showing my new invention;

FIG. 2 is a back perspective view of the neck and head stability pillow;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the neck and head stability pillow;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the neck and head stability pillow;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the neck and head stability pillow;

FIG. 6 is a back view of the neck and head stability pillow;

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the neck and head stability pillow.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are the perspective views showing an embodiment of the neck and head stability pillow of the present invention. The neck and head stability pillow, as shown in FIG. 3 comprises a flat bottom half cylinder 10 fixed to a flat bottom half toroid 13. Both components comprise a single pillow.

Referring to FIG. 3 and see FIG. 4 The flat bottom half toroid 13 permanently fixed 14 to the flat bottom half cylinder 10 forms an inner elliptic curve 18 leaving an open semi circular space 15. The head rests in the inner elliptic 18 of the toroid 13 where the sidewalls of the toroid 11 provides head stability, see FIG. 4. The half cylinder 10 fits directly below the neck maintaining the natural curvature of the cervical area 17. The users' shoulders lay outside 19 the half cylinder's top curvature 10 and rest on the bed 19. The flat bottom half cylinder takes into account the natural human neck curvature to provide support and stability around the neck contour 10 to ensure cervical concavity.

The inner elliptic space where the user's occiput rests is created between the flat bottom half toroid arms 11 fixed to the flat bottom half cylinder. Referring to FIG. 3 the inner diameter 18 between the flat bottom half cylinder 10 and the semi circular flat bottom half toroid 13 elevates the user's occiput rests above the mattress 15. It is to be noted that the half-toroid diameter with its flat base gradually increases from four (4) inches diameter at the connection with half cylinder to eight (8) inches diameter at the apex of the curve. This graduation assures that the head and neck remain as aligned as possible in its top to bottom axis. The curvature at the half-toroid top 18 is where the user's parietal rests receiving a sustained cushioning and support. The toroid sidewalls cushion the head 18 and control the head's motions assuring the head moves slightly to either side during the rest period.

The flat bottom half toroid is fifth teen (15) inches long from its apex 13 to the arms that connect with the half cylinder. FIG. 3 The flat bottom half toroid 13 gradually increases in diameter as it moves away from the flat bottom half cylinder 10. As shown in FIG. 4 the increase in diameter of the toroid follows the subsequent proportions: the first five (5) inches fixed to the half cylinder 14 has a diameter of four (4) inches; the next five (5) inches have a diameter of six inches (6) and the last five (5) inches of the half toroid have a diameter of eight (8) inches. The pillow bottom 16 is flat and unornamented see FIG.7.

The flat bottom 16 half-cylinder component is approximately twenty one (21) inches long, three (3) inches high from the base and six (6) inches wide with flat sides 12, see FIG. 2. As further shown in FIG. 5 each arm 11 is fixed at three (3) inches 20 from each end of the half cylinder. Referring to FIG. 4 the radius of the half toroid with its flat base 16 gradually increases from two (2) inches at the connection with the half cylinder to four (4) inches at the apex of the curve to maintain the head aligned with the neck. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 each half toroid arm 11 at the point of contact 14 has four (4) inches diameter with seven (7) inch open area 15 between the half-toroid arms 11 where the head rests 18.

It is important to note that these proportions may vary before production. These measures are approximate and respond to the standards measurements of the average human head and neck. The proportions and sizes of the pillow could be smaller to include a child version or a travel version.

An alternate embodiment of the invention's use occurs when the user instead of lying face up on the pillow, see FIG. 3, moves his body and head to the left or to the right; while the lateral head rests on the flat bottom toroid 13 the corresponding lateral side of the user's neck keeps receiving support 17 by the half cylinder 10. In both embodiments the pillow material will provide optimal cushioning and support for the users' head by sustaining as it compresses to the natural shape of the user's head and neck.

There are different materials that could be used to produce pillows, each with its unique characteristics. Some common examples of such materials are: memory foam, micro bead technology, foam rubber and etcetera. The material for this pillow will be resilient and compressible because it must recovers its original shape after any load is removed from the pillow.

After evaluating different material options, it is preferably to manufacture the invention using polyurethane memory foam, most commonly known as viscoelastic foam or tempur-pedic foam. The material selected is a heat sensitive material because it can acquire the shape of the neck and head lying upon it. It is important to note that this form retaining material will be the same one for the entire pillow manufacture. The memory foam material is cost effective because it reduces manufacturing costs and production time, and, moreover to maintains the critical conditions of: comfort, flexibility, control and full stability for neck and head.

The design of the invention has flexibility to combine materials and this fact represents alternative embodiment. Due to the large variety of materials with different compressibility indexes, characteristics and capacities to respond to the head weight another alternative embodiment for this invention consist of combine two different materials. Thus, an alternative embodiment of this invention consists of alternating a memory foam material to another similar material in one of the component and a different material in the other component that has little or no compressibility. For example, the half cylinder material can be memory foam and the half-toroid material can be micro bead. This embodiment permits less movement in the head area if necessary or as an alternative stronger support for the cervical area if necessary.

In addition this embodiment permits the pillow to be used for therapeutic purposes subject to medical requirements. This embodiment maintains the sizes and proportions of the preferable embodiment and the claims but allows a wider use of the pillow under this other embodiment.

Based on the manufacturing process research, the conclusion reached is that the most popular processes to manufacture a memory foam pillow are: Reaction Injection Molding (RIM), CNC Bandsaw cutting and Die Cutting. The Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) is the more practical method for mass production. It is usually used in cases where the object has curved such as the flat bottom half cylinder 10 and the half bottom toroidal surfaces in all three dimensions 16. When using RIM to mold the memory foam isocyanate and the polyol are heated and mixed together and are then poured into a CNC cut aluminum mold. Once in the mold the reaction of the hot mixture causes it to expand until it reaches the wall of the mold. When the hot mixture touches the relatively cold wall of the mold a skin is formed. RIM is a low-pressure process, so transitions from thick sections to thin sections must be gradual.

Another production alternative in smaller scale is the hot cut process where it uses a hot cutter to cut the foam according to the established design.

The pillow will be casing with a washable non-allergenic material that can breathe such as: cotton, pure virgin wool or any others breathable material. The pillow casing fallows exactly the contour of the pillow leaving open the inner diameter of the toroid. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A neck and head stability pillow comprising: a flat bottom half cylinder fixed to a flat bottom half toroid; a flat bottom half toroid forms an inner elliptic curve fixed to the flat bottom half cylinder and both comprise a single unit; a user's neck rests on the half cylinder; a flat bottomed half cylinder takes in to account the concave curve of the cervical spine to provide a suitable support to the user's neck contour; a flat bottomed half cylinder takes in to account natural human neck curvature to provide a suitable support to the contour of the user's neck; a space, where the user's occiput rests is created between the arms of the flat bottom half toroid arms fixed to the flat bottom half cylinder; a user's head rests on the inner diameter of the half toroid; a half toroid is such that the weight of the head rests on the inner sidewalls of the toroid; a function of the inner sidewalls of the toroid is cushioning the head providing flexibility and stability for the head motion; a radius of the half toroid with its flat base gradually increases from two inches at the connection with half cylinder to four inches at the apex of the curve to maintain the head aligned with the neck; a inner diameter between the flat bottom half cylinder pillow and the semi circular flat bottom half toroid pillow elevates the parietal section of user's head above the mattress. a pillow can be used equally by people who sleep on their backs or on their sides;
 2. This pillow of claim 1 also comprises another embodiment: an alternate embodiment of the invention use occurs when the user instead of lying face up on the pillow moves his body and head to the left side or to the right side; while the lateral head rests on the flat bottom toroid the corresponding lateral side of the neck keeps receiving support from the half cylinder.
 3. The proportions and sizes could be smaller for travel pillows or small children pillows or regular size for house whole use.
 4. The pillow of claim 1 wherein the pillow is compose of a same material: viscoelastic foam or tempur-pedic foam: a design of the invention provides the flexibility to select a variety of materials similar to the viscoelastic foam or tempur-pedic foam, it is up to the manufacturer; a pillow casing formed of washable non allergenic material that can breathe such as cotton, pure virgin wool among others; a pillow casing will fallow exactly the contour of the pillow leaving open the inner diameter of the toroid.
 5. This pillow of claim 1 also comprises another embodiment: an alternative embodiment of this invention comprise of alternating a memory foam material to another similar material in one of the component and a different material in the other component that has little o no compressibility; a alternative embodiment' maintains the sizes and proportions of the preferable embodiment.
 6. The design of the invention provides the flexibility to select a variety of manufacture processes: a most practical manufacture processes for mass production of the neck and head stability pillow is Reaction Injection Molding; a hot wire foam cutter another manufacturing method where mass production is not an issue. 